Pro tip: My friend said "just use Comic Sans" for a serious business site

Back in 1998 I was building a site for a local plumbing company in Phoenix. My buddy Dave who ran a BBS told me Comic Sans would make it "approachable." Sounded weird but I trusted him. So I threw that font on every page with bright blue backgrounds and animated pipe gifs. The owner called me after a week saying customers thought he was running a daycare. Lost the contract and Dave still brings it up at parties. Too bad, cause the visitor counter got to 200 hits. Has anyone else gotten bad design advice from friends?

2 comments

2 Comments

brian_murray10d ago

That's the thing about advice from friends in the 90s where everyone thought they were a web expert. People confuse what they personally like with what actually works for business. Dave probably thought Comic Sans was fun because he used it on his BBS welcome screen with sparkle cursors. But a plumbing company needs to say "I fix your broken toilet at 2am" not "I'm quirky and playful." The whole tech industry back then was full of this - everyone was just guessing, and friends would hype up terrible ideas because they sounded cool in theory.

barnes.morgan10d ago

70% of those 90s web experts couldn't even tell you what HTTP stands for today.